{"id":16645,"date":"2025-09-09T10:21:23","date_gmt":"2025-09-09T10:21:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/uncategorized\/citrus-marinated-olives-3\/"},"modified":"2025-09-12T18:25:30","modified_gmt":"2025-09-12T18:25:30","slug":"smashed-okra-fries","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/recipe\/smashed-okra-fries\/","title":{"rendered":"Smashed Okra Fries"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><p class=\"back-link\"><a href=\"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/fall-2025\/the-new-comfort-food-plant-based-recipes-from-the-south-to-the-world\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Back to Food Article<\/a><\/p><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Southern_Smashed-Okra-Fries750.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-16635 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Southern_Smashed-Okra-Fries750.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"750\" height=\"750\" srcset=\"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Southern_Smashed-Okra-Fries750.jpg 750w, https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Southern_Smashed-Okra-Fries750-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Southern_Smashed-Okra-Fries750-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Southern_Smashed-Okra-Fries750-570x570.jpg 570w, https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Southern_Smashed-Okra-Fries750-500x500.jpg 500w, https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Southern_Smashed-Okra-Fries750-700x700.jpg 700w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<h5><strong>Editor\u2019s Note:<\/strong> The \u201cMagic Mayo\u201d appears in other sections of<em> Make It Plant-Based! Southern<\/em> and is not reprinted here. To enjoy the complete version, see the full cookbook.<\/h5>\n<div class=\"recipe-card\"><\/p>\n<h3>Smashed Okra Fries<\/h3>\n<p class=\"servings\">Makes 2 to 4 servings<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>3 tablespoons olive oil<\/li>\n<li>12 ounces fresh okra pods<\/li>\n<li>2 tablespoons cornstarch<\/li>\n<li>2 tablespoons unsweetened plant-based milk<\/li>\n<li>1\u00bd teaspoons kosher salt<\/li>\n<li>1 teaspoon garlic powder<\/li>\n<li>\u00bc teaspoon granulated sugar<\/li>\n<li>1 lemon, cut into wedges<\/li>\n<li>Magic Mayo (page 151) or other dipping sauce, for serving<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Preheat the oven to 400\u00b0F. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil and grease it with 1 tablespoon of the olive oil.<\/p>\n<p>Trim off any stems left on the wide ends of the okra. Transfer the okra to a gallon-size resealable bag. Place a kitchen towel on the counter to pad it and lay the bag \ufb02at on top. Using a rolling pin or the bottom of a glass bottle, gently hit the okra, smashing the pods just enough to break them open and expose their seeds. Don\u2019t oversmash the okra pods; you want to keep them in whole pieces.<\/p>\n<p>Add the remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil, the cornstarch, milk, salt, garlic powder, and sugar to the bag. Vigorously shake the bag around, ensuring the batter is thoroughly mixed and evenly coats the okra.<\/p>\n<p>Spread out the okra on the prepared baking sheet. Bake for 30 minutes, or until the coating on the okra is lightly browned and crisped. Remove the baking sheet from the oven and \ufb02ip the okra over using a small offset spatula. Return the okra to the oven and bake for another 15 to 20 minutes, until evenly golden brown and crisp to the touch.<\/p>\n<p>Sprinkle with an extra pinch of salt while the okra is still hot. Serve with fresh lemon wedges and a dipping sauce of your choice.<\/p>\n<p><\/div>\n<p class=\"author-credit\">Recipes excerpted from Make It Plant-Based! Southern by Mehreen Karim (Workman Publishing). Copyright \u00a9 2025. Photographs by Emma Fishman.<\/p>\n<p class=\"back-link\"><a href=\"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/fall-2025\/the-new-comfort-food-plant-based-recipes-from-the-south-to-the-world\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Back to Food Article<\/a><\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>View recipe<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":16635,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[209,35],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16645","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fall-2025-recipe","category-recipe"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16645","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16645"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16645\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16658,"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16645\/revisions\/16658"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16635"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16645"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16645"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16645"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}